JP5039390B2 - Process cartridge and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus .

  In recent years, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a multifunction machine having at least two of these functions, the developing device and the process cartridge are based on replacement by the user, so that the loading / unloading operation can be easily performed. There is a demand for such a configuration. For this reason, as described in Patent Document 1 and the like, it has already been proposed to provide a handle for the developing device and the process cartridge.

JP-A-6-332304

  By the way, colorization is widespread in the image forming apparatus, and in particular, a tandem type having a plurality of image carriers is excellent in high speed and is becoming mainstream. In such an apparatus, an apparatus using four developing devices and process cartridges arranged in parallel is also known. At this time, since the reduction in machine size is an element directly connected to the convenience of the customer, the developing device and the process cartridge can be used as much as possible. It is common to arrange them close to each other or narrow the gap with other units.

  However, when the developing device in which the unit stores toner and the photosensitive member are integrated, there is a certain size and weight. Therefore, in order to reduce the size of the device, the units of the developing device and the process cartridge are arranged as close as possible. If the place where the unit U is mounted is narrow, the unit U may be accidentally dropped or hit against other units during work. It may happen that damage is caused.

Therefore, it is possible to respond by attaching a handle to the unit with emphasis on the workability of loading and unloading the unit, but the unit becomes larger by the amount of the handle, and the capacity of the image forming apparatus main body incorporating the unit also increases. End up. Further, there are cases where the handle cannot be easily attached due to interference with the optical path of a laser located in the vicinity due to the layout of the image forming apparatus.
As described above, the downsizing of the image forming apparatus and the operability of attaching and detaching the developing device or the process cartridge are contradictory to each other, and it is very difficult to achieve both.

SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus that can solve the above-described conventional problems and can easily attach and detach the developing device without increasing the size of the apparatus.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention has an upper cover that opens and closes around a shaft disposed on the back side when viewed from the front of the image forming apparatus main body, and is formed by opening the upper cover upward. A plurality of process cartridges are mounted in a parallel arrangement from the opening, and the parallel arrangement is substantially a rectangular parallelepiped in a process cartridge mounted on an image forming apparatus in which the longitudinal direction of the process cartridge is right and left when viewed from the front. A formed case, a photoconductor, a developing device that develops a toner image on the photoconductor, a first case disposed above in the height direction, and a second case disposed below When the toner storage portion formed in combination and the surface disposed on the back side of the apparatus main body when mounted on the image forming apparatus main body are defined as the first main wall surface, the toner storage portion protrudes from the first main wall surface. , Longitudinal direction When the first rib formed so as to extend and the surface disposed on the near side of the apparatus main body facing the first main wall surface is used as the second main wall surface, the first rib protrudes into the second main wall surface and is elongated. A second rib formed extending in the direction, and formed on the first main wall surface or the second main wall surface, and the user's finger enters even when the process cartridges are arranged in parallel. Proposing a process cartridge having a hollow shape that allows a finger to hang on the rib , and wherein the first rib is installed above the second rib in the height direction. To do.

  In the present invention, the casing is provided with an operation portion provided on the first main wall surface for grasping and operating, and an operation area provided on the second main wall surface, It is effective when the operation portion uses a part of the first rib and is positioned higher in the height direction than the lower end of the operation region.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when a part of the coupling surface between the first case and the second case is the first and second ribs.

Furthermore, the present invention, when the peripheral surface of the developing roller provided from the depression shape in the developing apparatus is configured so as to be seen, is effective.
Furthermore, the present invention is effective when one or more projecting shapes are formed in the vicinity of the second rib on the second main wall surface.

Furthermore, the present invention is effective when the process cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is configured integrally with at least one of a charging device and a cleaning device.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention proposes an image forming apparatus characterized in that an image is formed using the process cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 6 .

According to the first aspect, by using the upper rib (first rib) that protrudes from the wall surface of the developing device and changes the height of the rib at the facing position, the handle is separately provided. There is no need to add a process cartridge , and a compact process cartridge with good operability can be configured.

  According to the configuration of the second aspect, the upper rib (first rib) is used as an operation, and since the operation area on the opposite side of the rib is higher than the height of the operation portion, the developing device is easy to grasp and has good operability. Can be configured.

  According to the third aspect, by using the welding margin between the first case and the second case as a handle, there is no need to add a handle separately, and a small-sized developing device with good operability can be configured. it can.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the user can grasp the indentation shape when lifting from above, the operability is improved, and the user can visually recognize the developing roller. it can.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the user grasps the developing device has a protruding shape for preventing slipping, a developing device with good operability can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a central cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a color printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus. The color printer 1 shown here has four image forming units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K arranged substantially at the center of the printer housing, and above the image forming units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K, an image forming unit is formed. An exposure device 5 for forming a latent image on the photosensitive drum of the unit is arranged. Below the image forming units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K, a transfer belt 3 wound around a plurality of support rollers is horizontally disposed. A second transfer device 11 and an intermediate transfer member cleaning device 14 are arranged on the right side of the transfer belt 3 in the drawing. Below the transfer belt 3, a waste toner collecting container 15 for the transfer belt and a paper feed cassette 8 for loading and storing the recording medium 7 are arranged. The recording medium 7 fed by the paper feed roller 9 passes between the transfer belt 3 and the second transfer device 11 and is guided to the fixing device 12 to thermally fix the toner image on the recording medium 7. ing.

  The image forming units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K in FIG. 1 are different from yellow, magenta, cyan, and black in the color of the toner image to be formed, and the configuration and operation for forming the toner image are all the same. The one image forming unit 6 will be described with Y, M, C, and K removed. Below the image forming unit 6, a photosensitive drum 61, which is an image carrier, is disposed so as to face the intermediate transfer belt 3, and is driven to rotate clockwise 20. In this example, the image carrier is shown in the form of a drum, but it may be a photoreceptor composed of an endless belt. Around the photosensitive drum 61, there are provided a cleaning blade 62 as a cleaning device for scraping off residual toner after the primary transfer, and a charging roller 63 as a charging device in contact with the photosensitive drum 61. In the vicinity of the cleaning blade 62, a toner transport coil 64 that transports the scraped toner horizontally is provided. The toner from the toner transport coil 64 is pumped up by the toner transport belt 65 shown in FIG. The toner is collected in the toner collecting chamber 16a. The central region of the developing device 16 that is partitioned from the waste toner collection chamber 16a by a partition member 25 made of a flexible material such as a film is an unused toner chamber 16b. Toner is filled. Further, the developing device 16 includes a developing roller 16c, an agitator, a stirring roller, a toner supply roller 16g, and a developing blade 16h. The developing roller 16c is disposed with or in contact with the photosensitive drum 61 with a minute gap.

  Next, an electrophotographic image forming process will be described. In FIG. 2, the photosensitive drum 61 is rotated in the rotation direction 20 by a driving device (not shown), and the surface photosensitive layer is charged to a uniform high potential by the charging roller 63. The uniformly charged photosensitive layer is selectively exposed by the exposure device 5 based on the image data, and an electrostatic latent image is formed which includes a low potential portion where the potential is attenuated by this exposure and a high potential portion by initialization. Is done. Next, when the low potential portion (or high potential portion) of the electrostatic latent image comes to a position facing the photosensitive drum / developing roller, the toner is transferred from the developing roller 16c having a thin toner layer formed on the surface, and the toner is transferred. An image is formed (developed). After the first transfer, which will be described later, the toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 61 is cleaned by the cleaning blade 62 that comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 61, and the residual charge on the drum surface is removed by a neutralization device (not shown). To form a toner image.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the first transfer roller 3a for the first transfer is installed at a position where the image forming unit 6 and the transfer belt 3 are in contact with each other, and a high potential is applied to the first transfer roller 3a. A potential difference is provided between the photosensitive drum 61 and the transfer belt 3, and the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 61 is transferred. In each image forming unit 6, the toner images for each color are sequentially transferred to the transfer belt 3, and a plurality of color toner images are formed on the transfer belt 3 by superimposing the single color toner images. On the other hand, the recording medium 7 is supplied to the second transfer device 11 from the paper feed roller 9 and the paper transport device 10 at a timing. The toner image (in some cases, a single color toner image) formed on the surface of the transfer belt 3 is recorded by applying a high potential to the second transfer device 11 to provide a potential difference between the transfer belt 3 and the second transfer device 11. Transferred onto the medium 7.

  The recording medium 7 to which the toner image has been transferred is peeled off from the transfer belt 3, and the toner image is melted and fixed on the recording medium 7 by the fixing device 12, and is discharged to the discharge tray on the upper surface of the printer housing via the discharge roller pair 13. The paper is ejected. Excess toner remaining on the surface of the transfer belt 3 after the toner image is transferred to the recording medium 7 is cleaned by the intermediate transfer body cleaning device 14 and recovered in a waste toner recovery container 15. The cleaned transfer belt 3 is prepared for the transfer of the next toner image.

  The image forming unit 6 of the present embodiment is configured as a process cartridge in which the photosensitive drum 61, the developing device 16, the charging roller 63, and the cleaning blade 62 are integrated, but the developing device 16 is configured as an independent unit. May be. The image forming unit 6 or the developing device 16 must be replaced with a new unit or the like when the toner in the unused toner chamber 16b of the developing device 16 reaches the toner end. Hereinafter, the process cartridge or the developing device 16 to be replaced will be collectively referred to as a unit U.

  The replacement of the unit U is based on what the user performs. In the color printer 1 of this example, as shown in FIG. 3, the upper cover 2 and the exposure device 5 together with the rotation fulcrum 1a on the back side of the device are at the front. When the side is rotated upward, the unit U row mounted in the apparatus main body appears from the opening. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the unit U to be replaced can be taken out from the printer 1 by pulling upward. On the other hand, when the unit U is mounted, as shown in FIG. 4, the unit U can be set at a correct position by lowering the guide portion 59 provided on the short side surface of the unit U in accordance with the guide groove 1b on the printer side.

  As described above, the operation of attaching and detaching the unit U is relatively simple. However, in addition to the unit U having a width in the longitudinal direction of about 30 cm and a weight of several kilograms, the place where the unit U is attached is narrow. Therefore, it may happen that the unit U is accidentally dropped at the time of work or is hit against another unit to cause damage or the like.

Therefore, as described above, when the workability of attaching / detaching the unit U is emphasized, the size of the image forming apparatus is increased.
Therefore, the present invention improves the workability of attaching / detaching the knit U without hindering the downsizing of the apparatus, and will be described in detail.

2, 5, and 6, the housing of the unit U is formed by combining a first case 41 located on the upper side and a second case 42 located on the lower side to form a substantially rectangular parallelepiped . One example of the bonding method is welding. The unit U has a first main wall surface 43 as one of the side surfaces with the largest housing area, a second main wall surface 44 and an upper surface 45 as the opposite surface.

  The welded portion of the first case 41 and the second case 42 protrudes to the outside of the wall surface and side surfaces of the housing as a rib shape, but is provided on the first main wall surface 43 as clearly shown in FIG. The first ribs 46 and the second ribs 47 provided on the second main wall surface 44 have different heights, and the first ribs 46 are installed above the second ribs 47 in the height direction. .

  As shown in FIG. 4, the user grasps and exchanges the operation portion of the first main wall surface 43 and the operation region of the second main wall surface 44 of the unit U. A part of the first rib 46 is used for the operation portion of the first main wall surface 43 where the user puts his / her finger when grasping. The operation region is located above the second rib 47 in the height direction. At this time, the positional relationship in the height direction between the operation unit and the operation region is such that the first rib 46 that is the operation unit is positioned above the lower end of the operation region indicated by the broken line B in FIG. Therefore, it is easy for the user to apply a finger when grasping, and it is easy to grasp.

  Furthermore, when attaching / detaching the unit U to / from the printer, the rear side is the operation unit facing the user, and the operation unit is installed to the same or higher position as the operation area on the front side, so it is easy to grasp and attach / detach Easy to do.

  With this configuration, the first rib 46 installed on the upper side can be used as a handle when the user replaces the process cartridge incorporating the developing device 16, and the operability at the time of attachment / detachment is improved.

  In the above-described embodiment, it has been often used to form the housing of the developing device 16 by welding the first case 41 and the second case 42. When welding the case, it is necessary to have a welding margin that is a part to be melted and bonded. However, this welding margin is always formed on the outside of the housing, and an unnecessary space is created in the developing device. However, in the case of the unit U of the present embodiment, by using this welding margin as a rib shape for the handle, there is no need to add a separate handle, and a compact and easy-to-operate unit U can be configured. it can. The first rib 46 and the second rib 47 may be formed regardless of the welding distance of the case and may have only a function as a handle.

  The first main wall surface 43 and the second main wall surface 44 of the unit U are provided with indentations 48 and 49, respectively. The two recessed shapes 48 and 49 are provided with a width at a position facing each other at substantially the center in the longitudinal direction of the unit U as viewed from the upper surface 45. The operation area is formed by the concave shape 49. If one or more projecting portions 50 are provided in the concave shape 49, the projecting portions 50 can function to prevent slipping when the user grips the developing device 3.

  The unit U configured in this way is easy to grasp because the user can place the finger on the indentations 48 and 49 when the user lifts the unit U upward. Further, in the case of the image forming unit 6, since the photosensitive member 61 and the developing roller 16c are partly exposed, the portions that the concave shapes 41 and 42 have intuitively so that the user does not touch such portions. It can also be understood. It should be noted that the concave shape of the unit U is preferably provided at 48 and 49, which are two opposing locations, but the function can be achieved at either one of the locations.

  Further, with this configuration, when the user grasps the unit U for replacement and lifts it up, his / her finger is placed on the protruding portion 50 of the concave shape 49 provided on the first rib 46 and the second main wall surface 44. Easy to grasp because it can be hung. Further, since the unit U has the recessed portions 48 and 49 at positions facing each other, a space for placing a finger is secured. At this time, since the second rib 47 is installed at a position lower than the first rib 46, only the first rib 46 that is easy to catch a finger is used for a user having a small hand and the like. The second rib 47 may not be used as a handle. Then, instead of the second rib 47, a non-slip protrusion 50 is provided on the concave shape 49 side of the second main wall surface 44, which serves as a handle in this case.

  Further, when the concave shape 48 is provided in the first main wall surface 43, the developing roller 16c can be directly visually recognized from the concave shape 48. By adopting a configuration in which the surface of the developing roller 16c can be easily visually recognized from the concave shape 48, when the user holds the unit U, it is possible to determine how many colors of toner are filled in the developing device 16. That is, the developing roller 16c is visible from the direction of arrow A in FIG.

  In the case of a full-color image forming apparatus, it is very important to identify the color type of the toner in the cartridge because a normal color image cannot be formed if the location where each color developer enters the image forming apparatus is incorrect. Then, it is possible to identify the color type of the toner in the cartridge by directly looking at the developing roller 16c carrying the toner, and to prevent erroneous mounting.

  In the unit U, a partition member 25 for dividing the toner container in the developing device 16 into a waste toner collecting chamber 16a and an unused toner chamber 16b is provided between the first case 41 and the second case 42. Is provided. That is, in order to completely divide the unused toner chamber 16b for storing the toner before development and the waste toner collecting chamber 16a for collecting the transfer residual toner on the photoreceptor 61 scraped by the cleaning blade 62 as waste toner. The partition member 25 is installed between the first case 41 and the second case 42. The first rib 46 and the second rib 47 are attachment portions of the partition member 25.

  If comprised in this way, since the partition member 25 will be arrange | positioned according to the 1st rib 46 and the 2nd rib 47 from which height differs, inevitably the partition member 25 will be arrange | positioned diagonally, and the same volume Even in the developing case, the unused toner chamber 16b and the waste toner collecting chamber 16a can be used effectively.

  The first case 41 has a conveying means 26 such as a screw, a coil, and a paddle for conveying the waste toner into the waste toner collecting chamber 16a on the upper side of the partition member 25. The conveying means 26 is the first case 41. The main wall surface 43 is located on the second main wall surface 42 side and at a lower position. Moreover, it is preferable that the partition member 25 has a concavo-convex shape according to the conveying means 26.

  With such a configuration, waste toner collects in the downward direction of the inclined partition member 25, and the waste toner can be efficiently transported and housed because the transport means 22 is located there, and the housing area can be reduced in size. Further, since the partition member 25 has a concavo-convex shape, it is possible to reduce a dead space that is an area where the toner in both the unused toner chamber 16b and the waste toner recovery chamber 16a does not exist, and a small developing device can be configured. it can.

  Moreover, the partition member 25 is comprised by the member which has flexibility, such as a film-like sheet | seat, sponge, resin, rubber | gum, urethane, for example. At this time, if the partition member 25 is a thin sheet-like member, when the first case 41 and the second case 42 are welded, by welding in a state of being sandwiched between the two cases, The partition member 25 is fixed and can be completely divided into the unused toner chamber 16b and the waste toner collection chamber 16a. In this case, since there is almost no waste toner at the initial stage of use of the developing device 16, the capacity 30 of the unused toner chamber 16b can be increased by bending the partition member 25 toward the first case 41. When the number of printed sheets of the developing device 16 increases, unused toner decreases and waste toner increases, so that the partition member 25 is bent toward the second case 42 and the capacity of the waste toner collection chamber 16a can be increased.

Next, the color printer 1 using the unit U will be described.
The color printer 1 has an upper cover 2 that opens and closes around a shaft 1a that is arranged on the back side when viewed from the front. When the user replaces the developing device 16, the color printer 1 is opened from an opening formed by opening the upper cover 2. The developing device 16 is configured to be attached and detached substantially in the vertical direction, and the first main wall surface 43 is configured to be disposed on the back side of the color printer 1 when the developing device 16 is mounted.

  With the above configuration, when the user opens the upper cover 2 of the color printer 1 and attaches and detaches the developing device 16 substantially vertically, the first rib on the first main wall surface 41 on the back side as viewed from the user. Since the finger is put on 46, the handleability is good and the unit U can be securely attached and detached without dropping the unit U.

  As described above, the unit U is a single unit of the developing device 16 and a process cartridge that is the image forming unit 6. However, at this time, if the process cartridge includes the developing device 16, a photosensitive member is used. 61, the cleaning device 62, the charging device 63, etc., all of those in the form of a cartridge incorporating any of the other constituent members can be applied.

1 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating a color printer which is an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional explanatory view showing an image forming unit of the color printer. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where an upper cover of the color printer is opened. It is a perspective view which shows the one aspect | mode at the time of unit loading / unloading from the color printer. It is the perspective view seen from one side of the unit of the present invention. It is the perspective view seen from the opposite direction of the unit of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Color printer 16 Developing device 16a Waste toner collection chamber 16b Unused toner chamber 16c Developing roller 25 Partition member 26 Conveying means 41 First case 42 Second case 43 First main wall surface 44 Second main wall surface 46 First Rib 47 second rib 48, 49 indentation 50 protrusion

Claims (7)

Having an upper cover that opens and closes on the front side around an axis arranged on the back side when viewed from the front of the image forming apparatus main body,
A plurality of process cartridges are mounted in parallel through an opening formed by opening the upper cover upward,
The parallel arrangement is a process cartridge mounted on an image forming apparatus in which the longitudinal direction of the process cartridge is right and left when viewed from the front.
A housing formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped;
A photoreceptor,
A developing device for developing a toner image on the photoreceptor;
A toner storage unit formed by combining a first case disposed above in the height direction and a second case disposed below;
When the first main wall surface is a surface disposed on the back side of the image forming apparatus main body when mounted on the image forming apparatus main body, the first main wall is formed so as to protrude from the first main wall surface and extend in the longitudinal direction. The ribs,
When the surface disposed on the near side of the apparatus main body facing the first main wall surface is the second main wall surface, the second rib is formed to protrude from the second main wall surface and extend in the longitudinal direction. When,
A concave shape that is formed on the first main wall surface or the second main wall surface and allows a user's finger to enter and hang the finger on the rib even when the process cartridges are arranged in parallel. And
The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the first rib is disposed above the second rib in a height direction. The casing is provided with an operation portion provided on the first main wall surface for grasping and operating, and an operation region provided on the second main wall surface, and the operation portion is provided on the first main wall surface. 2. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a part of the rib is used and is located above the lower end of the operation region in a height direction. 3. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a part of a coupling surface between the first case and the second case is the first and second ribs. The process cartridge according to claim 3, wherein a peripheral surface of a developing roller provided in the developing device is visible from the concave shape. 5. The process cartridge according to claim 1, wherein one or more protruding shapes are formed on the second main wall surface in the vicinity of the second rib. 6. The process cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of a charging device and a cleaning device integrated with each other. Image forming apparatus and performs image formation using the process cartridge according to claim 1.

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